Kheyechish? — “Ate?” — is her mom’s daily question, usually met with a groan. Today, she admits: “I haven’t eaten all day… or days.”

Earning ₹18k a month, with ₹11.5k on rent and ₹6.5k stretched over groceries and unpaid rehearsals (where dinner’s free), she survives on vada pav buffets. But today? No rehearsal, no dinner. Just hunger.

Shashidhar, the neighbourhood crow (named after her dad), usually mocks her with smug caws. Today, he’s oddly kind. Inspired, she heads to buy ingredients for Aloo Posto and Phena Bhat — ironically, famine-born dishes. At the store, the bill laughs louder than her purse. Defeated, she walks out empty-handed.

Retelling the story, she cooks for the audience: “If we broke, folks no longer turn up where food is laid out, they may think we don’t need anything. But if we come and are unable to buy, they’ll know how it is.”

Inspired by Brecht’s poem The Shopper, Kheyechish? blends humour, hunger, and heart — a tasteful tragedy supported by the DSFM Niloufer Sagar Alumni Production Grant.